One of the many things being a feminist organisation encourages us to think about is our work-life balance and our holistic health and wellbeing.
In seeking to find practical ways to support this we have been exploring the implementation of a four day week since March 2022. By this, we mean that for us, full time at GGP is four days (32 hours), with no cut in salary.
There are many things which have made the implementation of a four day week practicable. Some limiting factors in other organisations or industries, such as the need to have shift work or constant availability for customers, do not currently impact us at Global Girl. We are a small team and so internal cultural adaptation and communication has been more straightforward for us than in a big team, and we already work entirely remotely, so hybrid work or days in the office have not had to be accounted for.
In many ways, this may have been an easier transition than for some other organisations, however due to being a small team which is already under resourced, it may also have been more difficult in other ways. We have had to think carefully about how this would work, the impact it would have on us and our partners, and the feasibility and flexibility with which we would apply the policy. What we are currently testing is:
We close Global Girl Project on Fridays, and our staff work Monday - Thursday only. This is a set day, we do not compromise on slipping a few meetings in on Fridays, and our out-of-offices are set on Thursday evenings. The only exception to this is if we need to meet groups of girls on Fridays and there is not another option for the session. We did discuss having a mix of days (for example, our Director would work Monday - Thursday and our Programme Manager would work Tuesday - Friday), to ensure the whole five days were covered. We decided against this for a few reasons: 1) we want to make sure we have the opportunity to work collaboratively together on all the days we are working, 2) we didn’t want to run the risk of work-creep, where someone would have a meeting which someone else wanted to attend but it was on their day off so they ended up working anyway, and 3) we wanted to make a statement with this decision and be clear with our partners and our wider stakeholders that we were taking Fridays out for ourselves and our personal lives.
This means we work a 32 hour work week for full time pay, we have not condensed our previous 40 hour week from five days into four. We are strict on this and hold each other accountable to these working hours. We believe in working smarter not longer, and part of being a feminist organisation for us means we do not believe that to be hard-working we have to be long-working or that we have to sacrifice our personal lives or physical and mental health.
What we have found so far is:
The impact of one additional day off has a huge (and disproportionate to the amount of time) positive impact on work-life balance and wellbeing. It might be an extra day to enjoy the weekend, or it might be an opportunity to catch up on life admin or chores which then doesn’t have to take up a day of the weekend. Our Programme Manager Hannah reports feeling “much more rested, enthusiastic, and positive on Monday morning having had that extra time” and Julia our Founding Director says that she has time to move her boat (on which she lives and runs GGP), or other boat chores that is similar to a part-time job.
It’s encouraged us to be more productive and targeted in our priorities in the time we are working. Having less time does mean that the time we do have needs to be used well, Hannah says she’s getting as much done in four days as she probably would in five (not scientifically measured!) which feels more satisfying and energising on work days as well.
But it has not been easy to reduce our hours. For our Director in particular who previously might have been working a 50 hour week, reducing down to 32 hours has taken time and dedication and has not always been straightforward.
We have not found this to significantly impact our ability to serve our girls, our partners, or to do our jobs. Aside from occasionally having to tell people we can’t attend a meeting on a Friday, this arrangement has not, so far curtailed our ability to do our job well and deliver amazing programmes. We have received no negative feedback from partners on the arrangements.
We feel guilty about working less. Many people will be familiar with the feeling of guilt when not being ‘productive’, and for example our Director has talked about feeling ‘lazy’ when working a shorter week. A capitalist productivity mindset has led many of us to feel guilt about taking time for ourselves, not working, or having a better work-life balance, leading us to characterise ourselves as lazy or not worthy. As a feminist organisation, we are trying to challenge the idea of work being the only valuable way to spend our time, and ensure that self-care is a central part of our lives.
Overall, it’s been a positive experience so far, and a great start to implementing this policy. However, we know there are things we will have to continue to consider:
As we bring more staff in, people will have different flexible working needs. As a small team it is easier to meet everyone’s needs as there are fewer of them, but as we grow we will need to make sure that this suits everyone across the team. For example, what if someone wants to work 32 hours across five shorter days, or really needs a Monday off for childcare reasons?
As our programmes grow, we will need to ensure we can successfully support all our partners and girls, and might this become harder in four days?
We are determined to make this policy work, and will look to address the above challenges with creativity and our values at the forefront. We are excited to share our findings and journey, and are happy to discuss this more with any organisations looking to implement this.